Actress Leah Remini quits Scientology after years of 'interrogations'

Posted: 12:17 AM, July 11, 2013
“King of Queens” star Leah Remini is making a dramatic break from the Church of Scientology, a source said, after being subjected to years of “interrogations” and “thought modification” for questioning leader David Miscavige’s rule.

The source tells us Remini is quitting because of policies that don’t allow parishioners to question Miscavige’s management or the reported abuse of members of its Sea Org religious order — and for forcing followers to “disconnect” from family members branded as “suppressive persons” if they choose to leave the church.

Leah Remini, walking behind Jennifer Lopez, left, on their way to a restaurant for dinner with Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes in Rome ahead of the couple's 2006 nups in Rome.

“It all began when Leah questioned the validity of excommunication of people,” a source said of her decision. “She is stepping back from a regime she thinks is corrupt. She thinks no religion should tear apart a family or abuse someone under the umbrella of ‘religion.’ ”

Former Sea Org member Mike Rinder blogged this week that at Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ 2006 wedding, Remini innocently asked where Miscavige’s wife, Shelly, was. Former Scientology Celebrity Centre head Tommy Davis scolded her, “You don’t have the [bleeping] rank to ask about Shelly.” Mrs. Miscavige reportedly hasn’t been seen in public since 2007.

As a result, Remini “was put through interrogations and blacklisted within the church that she donated millions to and that her family has spent their lives in. She was put through ‘thought modification’ for five years,” our source said.

The source added that church friends Remini had for “25 to 30 years wrote internal reports” about her that “caused an investigation on her family.”

Someone close to Remini said she’s weighing going public “when she sees what the church tries to do. She has heard they use people to scare you into silence.”

The source added, “She’s from Brooklyn. The church can’t hurt her . . . they don’t have her family, that’s all that matters to her.” And, “It’s not about wanting or not wanting to do Scientology . . . The issue is that [Miscavige] is taking down this church and hurting people and families.”

A Scientology rep denied all allegations.

NBC’s Rising Leno Dominates Kimmel and Letterman

CBS veteran declines further, places third in key demos for second quarter; Peacock's Fallon hot

Rick Kissell

He’s a little more than six months away from passing the “Tonight Show” baton — again — but Jay Leno is very much still on his game ratings-wise.

In Nielsen numbers for the second quarter of this year, NBC’s “Tonight Show With Jay Leno” was easily the top-rated hour in latenight. ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” ranked second in key demos for a second straight quarter in its new, earlier timeslot and remains the youngest-skewing of the 11:35 p.m. talkshows.

Letterman‘s “Late Show” on CBS, meanwhile, continues to head in the opposite direction and logged one of its weakest quarterly performances on record. The program was down from last year in virtually every category except adults 50 and older.

Overall, NBC remains dominant in latenight, with “Tonight Show” and “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” winning all four half-hours from 11:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. in all 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 demos as well as total viewers. Leno and Fallon beat their CBS competition head to head by their largest margins in four years.

Nielsen estimates that Leno, who will wrap his second stint as host of “The Tonight Show” in mid-winter, averaged 1.08 million adults 18-49 for the April 1-June 30 second quarter — up 8% from last year. “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (885,000 viewers in the demo) ranked second and was up 25% from its average in a later timeslot last year, while “Late Show with David Letterman” slid 13% to 777,000.

In total viewers, Leno’s 3.575 million (up 2% from last year) was well out in front of Letterman (2.767 million) and Kimmel (2.490 million).

For ABC, Kimmel has now beaten Letterman in both quarters in which they have competed head to head. His advantage over Letterman was 24% in adults 18-34 and 7% in adults 35-49.

“Nightline” continues to look bad in comparisons to 2012, when the show aired from 11:35 p.m. to midnight. It was off more than 50% in adults 18-49 (543,000), adults 25-54 (707,000) and total viewers (1.614 million).

But the show has gotten younger since shifting to a 12:35 a.m. start time and airing behind Kimmel; its median age for the quarter (54.2) was a full three years lower than last year.

NBC’s “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” was up pretty much across the board for the quarter, averaging 1.78 million viewers, including 701,000 adults 18-49. Fallon was up 16% from last year in adults 18-34 — a good sign as he prepares to take over the “Tonight Show” reins from Leno following NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics last next February.

Airing in the same 12:35 a.m. hour, CBS’ “Late, Late Show With Craig Ferguson” averaged 1.391 million viewers (up 1% from last year) and 491,000 adults 18-49 (off 6%).

In adults 18-49, the top-rated post-primetime program for the second quarter was Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” (1.114 million), which finished a bit ahead of Leno and benefits from ending about an hour earlier than the NBC program. “Daily Show,” which was hosted in the final three weeks of the quarter by John Oliver, dipped 6% in adults 18-49 and 8% in total viewers compared with a year ago.

Comedy Central skedmate “The Colbert Report” was down a smidge from last year.

TOP POST-PRIMETIME
WEEKNIGHT SHOWS
(April 1-June 30, 2013)*

ADULTS 18-49

Daily Show (Comedy)         1.114 million
Tonight Show (NBC)        1.080 million
Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC)       885,000
Colbert Report (Comedy)             876,000
Late Show … Letterman (CBS) 777,000
Latenight … Fallon (NBC)               701,000
Nightline (ABC)                                   543,000
Conan (TBS)                                          532,000
Late, Late … Ferguson (CBS)         491,000

TOTAL VIEWERS

Tonight Show (NBC)                       3.575 million
Late Show … Letterman (CBS)   2.767 million
Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC)          2.490 million
Daily Show (Comedy)                    1.987 million
Latenight … Fallon (NBC)            1.780 million
Late, Late … Ferguson (CBS)      1.391 million
Nightline (ABC)                                1.614 million
Colbert Report (Comedy)            1.521 million
Last Call … Daly (NBC)                      899,000

*Most current data (does not include 7-day DVR playback for the last two weeks)

“Monsters University” opens at No.1 in the world

By: Josh Abraham

Monsters University opens at No.1 in the world with a weekend estimated gross of $136.5 million from 36 markets. Man of Steel is the No.1 film internationally with an estimated weekend of $89.0 million, worldwide weekend of $130.2 million from 53 markets and a new worldwide cume of $398.3 million.

World War Z opens to $111.8 million from 26 markets for the third film producing over $100 million this weekend at the worldwide box office.

The top-12 domestic weekend box office estimates listed in descending order, per data collected as of Sunday, June 23, 2013 are below.

Monsters University – Disney – $82.0M
World War Z – Paramount – $66.0M
Man Of Steel – Warner Bros. – $41.2M
This Is The End – Sony – $13.0M
Now You See Me – Lionsgate – $7.9M
Fast & Furious 6 – Universal – $4.7M
Internship, The – 20th Century Fox – $3.4M
Purge, The – Universal – $3.4M
Star Trek Into Darkness – Paramount – $3.0M
Iron Man 3 – Disney – $2.2M
Bling Ring, The – A24 Films – $2.0M
Epic – 20th Century Fox – $1.7M

To read more go to www.rentrak.com
Follow Hollywood News on Twitter for up-to-date news information.

James Gandolfini dead at 51: Actor's sister arrives in Rome as autopsy confirms heart attack killed 'Sopranos' star

The Emmy-award winner and HBO star died of a heart attack while in Rome with his 13-year-old son. Family hopes to bring Gandolfini's body home by Wednesday with a funeral to follow by Saturday.

BY JOSEPHINE MCKENNA IN ROME AND LARRY MCSHANE / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS.

An autopsy found Emmy-winning James Gandolfini died of a sudden heart attack inside a Rome hotel room - with no signs of drug or alcohol abuse, a family friend said Friday.

The results were made public as hotel officials angrily denounced published reports that the star of "The Sopranos" binged on booze and food before his shocking death.

Family friend Michael Kobold, at a Rome news conference, said the autopsy determined Gandolfini was killed by a heart attack during a father-son getaway in Italy.

According to Kobold, the Gandolfini family was working with the Italian government in an effort to quickly return the remains to the United States. His body was released to an Italian funeral home.

JASON LAVERIS/FILMMAGIC

James Gandolfini attended the Hollywood premiere of ‘Zero Dark Thirty,’ his second-to-last film.

Though the process can take up to 10 days, the Gandolfini family hoped to bring his body home by next Wednesday with a New York funeral to follow by Saturday, June 29, at the latest, Kobold said.

There was no evidence of drug use, alcohol abuse or foul play in the hulking TV mob boss' death, the Gandolfini pal said. The acclaimed actor was found by his 13-year-old son.

ERNESTO RUSCIO/GETTY IMAGES

The 51-year-old actor's body was taken to the Umberto Hospital morgue.

"There's nothing out of the ordinary," said Kobold. "It was a heart attack. It was a natural cause. There was no foul play, no substance abuse. None of that."

Kobold, asked specifically if the 260-pound Gandolfini had a history of heart trouble, said his friend was healthy.

MIKE STOBE/GETTY IMAGES

The New York Yankees have a moment of silence for actor James Gandolfini on Thursday at Yankee Stadium.

Gandolfini arrived Tuesday with his son Michael, and the pair "had a wonderful day" before the fatal cardiac incident, Kobold said.

"James came here on vacation, meeting his family," said Kobold. "He had a wonderful day - he visited the Vatican, he had dinner at the hotel with his son, awaiting the arrival of his sister."

A second news conference by officials at the Hotel Exedra was "expressly held to completely deny what some newspapers wrote about what he ate and drank," said a spokeswoman.

Gandolfini's family "completely denies everything" about reports regarding his meal at an outdoor table in the historic Trastevere neighborhood, the spokeswoman said.

A manager at the restaurant Sabatini's told the Daily News that Gandolfini arrived with his son for a low-key evening overlooking the stunning piazza.

"They were very quiet," said manager Roberto Alessandrelli. "They ate very moderately. It was a hot night, so there was even less reason to eat a great deal."

SPLASH NEWS/SPLASH NEWS

Family members and staff answer questions about James Gandolfini, who died of cardiac arrest at age 51, the morgue.

Gandolfini enjoyed one drink and a glass of red wine before sharing a plate of prosciutto and melon with his son Michael, he said. Each then ordered a pasta dish.

Gandolfini's grief-stricken sister arrived Friday in Rome to formally identify the body of the Emmy-winning actor.

CRAIG BLANKENHORN /AP

James Gandolfini, from left, Steven Van Zandt and Tony Sirico are seen during the final season of the hit HBO show 'The Sopranos' in 2007.

Leta Gandolfini was escorted to the Umberto Hospital morgue where the 51-year-old was taken after his shocking and sudden death Wednesday night.

Doctors fought desperately to revive the actor for 40 minutes before he was declared dead.

lmcshane@nydailynews.com

‘World War Z’ Zombies Begin Global Battle With ‘Man Of Steel’; But Pixar’s ‘Monsters University’ Should Open Huge #1 Domestic

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief June 21, 2013inShare

FRIDAY 11 AM, 2ND UPDATE: Disney/Pixar’s 3D toon prequel Monsters University opened with a solid $2.6M for Thursday’s late shows starting at 8 PM. “For a family film, we think we’re off to a really great start,” the studio tells me. This weekend Monsters University is opening in 35 territories, though only 6 are key markets (Germany, Australia, Russia, Mexico, Spain, Brazil). Also last night, at the same time that Paramount’s World War Z co-financed with Skydance Productions was benefiting from airing 2 spots during the Miami-San Antonio NBA final to promote today’s official opening, it grossed $3.6M in 2,600 screens for 8 PM previews and midnight shows. Brad Pitt’s Plan B zombie pic about an epic epidemic based on Max Brooks’ plague novel also started rolling day and date Thursday into 25 countries or 30% of the international market Thursday. First grosses came in and “look great”, according to Paramount.

Australia opened with $1.1M (exactly what Inception did) and Korea with $1.5M (Inception did $941K). Argentina grossed $710K on their holiday for the 3rd best opening Thursday ever in that market. Hong Kong did $350K. The studio said there were strong openings in some of the other smaller markets as well, for a total international cume of $5.7M Thursday which comps well with Inception‘s $3.6M for the same territories. Here and overseas, World War Z will be in direct competition with Warner Bros’ and Legendary Pictures’ Man Of Steel which going into today was still the big #1 leader in the worldwide marketplace. Man Of Steel for a probable $50M-$55M on its second weekend. And newcomer Monsters University is tracking even bigger than Cars and outselling Brave online - and could pull $60M-$75M this weekend. The big question mark is all that bad buzz which World War Z endured for six months and how much it will affect filmgoers. Paramount is quick to acknowledge that bad-mouthing has created low expectations and is projecting only mid-$40sM this weekend. But Fandango saw a surge in online ticket sales for World War Z Thursday and as of 1:30 PM it was outselling Superman. Paramount executives point out that there has never been a 3-day weekend with 3 different movies doing $50+M at the domestic box office. And they claim statistics show that only one original movie a year opens at $50M. (“Franchises open bigger but originals play to better multiples as people start discovering them,” one exec tells me.)

FRIDAY 4 PM UPDATE: World War Z and Monsters University now open in the U.S. and Canada after Thursday’s limited run with 8 PM late shows but into wide release Friday. Monsters Inc was originally released on November 2, 2001, and wound up nominated for 4 Oscars: Best Animated Feature Film, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing, and Best Original Song “If I Didn’t Have You” which won the Academy Award. This prequel hits theaters nearly 12 years later and is set during Mike’s and Sulley’s college years. This is the 14th Pixar feature release and inevitably it will debut #1 since the studio already is 13 for 13 #1 openings. The G-rated pic opens wide in 4,004 theaters on Friday. Meanwhile, Paramount’s focus for World War Z was on the Friday debut because the studio suspected there’d be an NBA Finals Game 7, and, obviously, there was. That allowed Paramount to air two spots during what was one of the most watched series’ ends in pro basketball history. Paramount keeps using Inception as a good but inexact comp for World War Z because, although the two movies are both originals and summer sci-fi tentpoles, only World War Z was filmed in 3D. With those higher ticket prices, more pressure is on the zombie pic to do better at the domestic box office than Inception‘s $62.7M opening in July 2010. Christopher Nolan’s Inception did nearly a 5x multiple helped by the helmer’s Batman trilogy mega-success. Interesting, because Brad Pitt outbid Leonardo DiCaprio for the movie rights to World War Z and then chose Marc Forster to direct it. But Forster is no Nolan. Still, with all kids out of school, and many adults starting vacations, and July 4th weekend fast approaching, it’s likely the movie will do solidly for several weeks but nowhere near a breakout blockbuster. ”People are getting excited by the movie now that we have it to show,” a Paramount exec explains. With good early reviews and vastly improved tracking, World War Z just might (emphasis on the word might) overperform despite stiff competition.

Frankly, I’ve never found zombies scary – they’re slow, so just outrun them, right? - although this pic has fast-moving zombies who swarm. But it’s not like lethal lasers are leaping out of their eyes. And these are PG-13 zombies who don’t look much different from the cable TV zombies on AMC’s Walking Dead. These also are expensive zombies. Much has been made of the film’s mega-cost: between $220M-$230M brought down by tax incentives to about $200M, or so the studio claims. Vanity Fair which typically ignores Hollywood moviemaking even did a long feature article about the pic’s budget, plot, and production problems, including reshoots and four writers: J. Michael Straczynski, Matthew Michael Carnahan, Damon Lindelof, and Drew Goddard. Which all prompted Time film critic Richard Corliss to grouse this week, “So they spent a bundle. Doesn’t matter; it’s not your money. Your ticket to this movie, unless you see the 3D version, costs the same as one for a pinchpenny indie film.” Earth to Corliss: Paramount is part of publicly traded Viacom, and shareholders need to know if their money was wasted on a box office bomb so they can figure out which bums to blame for the almost certainty that this film is never going to earn out. But it won’t be a total write-off like John Carter or Battleship thanks to steps that Brad Pitt and Paramount took to try and fix the movie because it came out.

According to MovieTickets.com, domestic box office advance ticket sales for Man Of Steel accounted for nearly 33% of total daily transactions for Wednesday with Monsters University close behind with 28.2% and World War Z with 14.6%. But Fandango reports those numbers changing day by day: World War Z rose to 25% of sales, and Man Of Steel fell to 19%. In fact, Fandango said WWZ is selling 175% more tickets than Tom Cruise’s Oblivion at this same point in the release cycle. Monsters University was selling 50% more tickets than Brave at the same point in the sales cycle and accounted for 44% of Thursday’s ticket sales.

Justin Bieber Involved In Hollywood Traffic Accident, Paparazzo Injured

June 18, 2013 12:54 PM

HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA.com) — Pop singer Justin Bieber was reportedly involved in a collision that left a paparazzo injured just before midnight Monday.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, a traffic collision occurred outside of the Laugh Factory at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Crescent Heights in Hollywood.

The incident was caught on tape, which was viewed by CBS2′s Amber Lee.

According to Lee, the footage shows Bieber behind the wheel of his white Ferrari, surrounded by paparazzi, as he tries to leave the comedy club.

The singer then motions for photographers to move so he can leave and he reportedly pins a paparazzo between his Ferrari and a parked car, TMZ reported.

Bieber then left the scene, a paparazzo told Lee.

The photographer involved in the crash was treated at a local hospital for non-life threatening injuries to his left leg.

Bieber was questioned by police and cleared around 5 a.m., TMZ’s Mike Walters told KNX 1070.

play

Download

“He didn’t know he hit anybody, and once when cops were able to see the video . . . you can clearly see that this wasn’t one of the ones where a photographer is clearly hit,” Walters said.